Health Care

Testimony to the Joint Committee on Public Health

In support of H. 2127

An Act to Establish the Massachusetts Health Care Trust

October 20, 2009

 

By Judith Deutsch, League of Women Voters of Massachusetts Health Care Specialist

 

The League of Women Voters of Massachusetts strongly supports this bill, which meets the League of Women Voters of the United State’s criteria of affordability, quality, and accessibility.

Through the use of a single-payer system, the Health Care Trust will establish sufficient economies to provide quality health care for all Massachusetts residents at a cost far less than the Commonwealth, businesses, and individuals are currently paying.

Under Massachusetts’ present healthcare system, many residents who are insured are unable to pay the high deductibles and co-pays required to get the health care they need, and too many are resorting to emergency-room care at a great cost to the insured and to the Commonwealth.  Furthermore, insurance premiums are rising at least 10% per year - this system costs the Commonwealth $11.1 billion in fiscal year 2008, and it is estimated that the cost will be $1.3 billion in 2009.

As the Commonwealth’s budget deficit keeps increasing and needed goods and services are cut, the legislature keeps kowtowing to the insurance industry, with its yearly compensation to CEOs in the millions and its well-known practices of refusing needed and supposedly-included care to many of those it insures and refusing to insure many because of pre-existing conditions.

When will the legislature stop abusing the people of Massachusetts and vote for and implement a responsible plan?

In addition to the economies in administrative overhead that the implementation of H. 2127 will provide, it will also create huge savings through the bulk purchase of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies at negotiated prices and through the establishment of global budgets for payments to medical providers.  By integrating services and removing barriers to access, the Health Care Trust will lead to early detection and intervention, often avoiding more costly treatments at a later time.

The Trust will be funded by federal and state funds currently used for health care and dedicated taxes on employer payrolls, employee salaries, income of the self-employed, and unearned income.  Low-income earners and small businesses will be exempt.

The Trust will fund training programs for professional and nonprofessional workers from the health care sector displaced as a result of implementation of this Act.

Covered benefits will include prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of illness and injury (including laboratory tests); appropriate screening, counseling, and health education; prenatal, perinatal, and maternal care; family planning, fertility, and reproductive health care; long-term and hospice care; full-scale dental services other than cosmetic dentistry; prescription drugs and medical equipment and supplies; hearing evaluation and treatment – including hearing aids; basic vision care and correction; and emergency and other medically-needed transportation.

There will be no deductibles, copayments or other cost sharing in respect to covered benefits.  Patients will have their choice of physicians, other clinicians, hospitals, and other inpatient facilities.

For all these reasons, the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts urges that you vote H. 2127 out of committee and work to get it passed by the whole Legislature, signed by the Governor, and implemented as soon as is feasible.

However, the League recommends the following changes in the bill in order to assure its fiscal viability and ultimate passage:

• Strengthen the standards for determination of eligibility for homeless individuals
• Limit nonresident coverage to those who work in Massachusetts and don’t have coverage in their own states
• Remove the extension of the Senior Circuit Breaker for renters and homeowners to all taxpayers in the Commonwealth (The  League does not object to this extension but believes that it should be a stand-alone bill).